Wuxia: Start with max-level Nine Yang Divine Skill

Wei Ying, who was being treated by Song Zhaoxue using her internal energy to expel the poison, gasped for breath after every few words, speaking intermittently.

"Miss... Li Fu, I'm afraid... is the Snake... Among the twelve ominous signs, the Snake is rumored to be the most skilled at using poison to kill people."

Rumor has it that his poison skills are so advanced that even the former leader of the Five Poisons Sect of Lingnan... a figure in the martial arts world known for his poison skills and infamous for his ferocity... seems to have fallen into his hands... and been poisoned to death by him.

He...he used poison without any scruples...only seeking to kill his target...even if...even if it affected the innocent...even if it killed an entire village...he didn't care..."

"The Snake!"

A complex mix of resentment, anger, and a hint of murderous intent flashed across Song Zhaoxue's face.

"It's him again."

"Has he come? Where is he!"

Li Fu remembered hearing that Song Zhaoxue wanted to deal with the Twelve Fierce Stars, which seemed to be because of this Snake.

Just then, the Heavenly Book quietly appeared before his eyes, displaying several lines of ink-wash characters.

I've heard that there's a ruthless assassin in the martial arts world, known as the Snake, who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, using poisons far and wide and harming innocent people without hesitation.

Among those who died from its poison were upright and honest officials, righteous heroes, and many innocent civilians.

We implore the righteous hero to intervene and eradicate it, to comfort the departed souls and uphold justice!

[Completion Reward - Iron Shirt Mastery]

Seeing the Heavenly Book appear, indicating that eliminating the Snake would grant the reward of mastering the Iron Shirt skill, Li Fu's heart stirred.

This martial art wasn't considered a groundbreaking skill by him, but it was a type of martial art that required external strength training, which made it quite different.

Especially in the current situation.

"Iron Shirt is an external hard skill, easy to learn but difficult to master. Ordinary people need decades of hard work to achieve mastery. Once mastered, the skin, flesh, tendons and bones of the whole body are as tough as iron, and ordinary swords and knives are hard to hurt. Even the internal palm force of a first-class master is difficult to injure."

What's even more remarkable is that, unlike internal martial arts which require constant vigilance, once mastered, one becomes invulnerable even in one's sleep, making it immensely beneficial for navigating the martial world and protecting oneself from assassination attempts.

Li Fu thought to himself, "I already have the Nine Yang True Qi automatically protecting my body. If I were to obtain the Great Perfection Iron Shirt, I could train my muscles, bones, and skin externally, and strengthen my inner Qi. By cultivating both internal and external aspects, my defensive capabilities would be greatly enhanced."

At that time, even if Yin Hu's sharp arrows, which are specifically designed to break through protective true qi, manage to pierce my Nine Yang True Qi, the remaining force will not be enough to harm me.

The same applies when facing other experts in the future.

While the protective true energy of the Nine Yangs Perfected is indeed powerful, it cannot be ignored when facing the attacks of a true master.

Otherwise, when people who have mastered the Nine Yangs technique fight each other, they don't need to exchange moves at all. They can let others attack them at will, and they can just focus on attacking their enemies.

Li's resolve to kill the snake became even stronger.

"This person used poison and insidious methods to kill innocent people indiscriminately; he deserves to die."

Now that this reward has been added, there's no reason for us to pass it up.

However, this venomous snake lurks in the shadows and is extremely cunning.

While keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings, Li Fu used his Nine Yang True Qi to help the old man at the tea stall expel the deadly poison from his body.

Although the old man was deeply poisoned, Li Fu's true qi was pure and vast, and he managed to force out the poison that was eroding his heart meridian little by little.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the blackness on the old man's face gradually faded. Although he was still weak, his life was saved.

Meanwhile, Song Zhaoxue had already finished using her internal energy to remove the poison from Wei Ying.

Her Pure Maiden Mystic Skill is pure and gentle, and she is most adept at neutralizing foreign energies. At the same time, she is immune to all poisons, so helping Wei Ying expel the poison that has already taken effect is no problem for her.

The bluish-purple color on Wei Ying's lips gradually faded, and her breathing became steady. However, she was severely weakened, and her face was as pale as paper.

Song Zhaoxue frowned and said, "Strange...why did no one attack us while we were practicing our internal energy? That would have been the perfect opportunity, as we would have been stretched thin."

Li Fu's sharp eyes slowly scanned the distant mountains, nearby trees, bushes, and rocks outside the shed, leaving no corner unchecked as to where people might be hiding.

"Perhaps, it's not the right time yet."

"When?" Song Zhaoxue pressed.

"When we were at our wits' end."

Li Fu sneered.

"Although neither of us had a good night's sleep, our internal strength is still intact, and we have not lost our fighting power. We were not poisoned. If the twelve evil spirits in the shadows appear now, I can still get away to fight them."

Taking rash action may not yield good results.

They have many more opportunities and a long time ahead of them, so there's no need to rush into anything.

"What...what's wrong with me?"

The old man at the tea stall escaped death.

Li Fu helped him up, gave him a lot of gold and silver, and said, "Old man, leave quickly. You have been implicated by us, and you should not stay here for long."

Some bad guys have their eyes on us, and they'll probably come back.

The old man was so frightened that he abandoned his valuables at the tea stall and fled.

"The poison is extremely potent. This old man's lungs and internal organs have been damaged. Although he can recover with proper care, his lifespan will not be in danger. However, he will likely suffer from a chronic cough for the rest of his life and will be unable to do heavy work."

Li Fu stood there, watching the old man's departing figure.

Song Zhaoxue walked to his side. Despite her limited experience in the martial world, she saw things very clearly and said, "Li Fu, don't overthink it. This person was not harmed by us after all."

The culprits are the poisonous snake and the twelve malevolent spirits. If we take on this guilt, we are only playing into the hands of those wicked people.

Wei Ying also spoke weakly: "What Miss says is true."

"Li Fu, you have slain five villains, saving countless innocent people who should have died at their hands—a hundred times more."

"Of course I know."

Li Fu nodded.

"You are right. The way to avenge this innocent old man is to find the Snake and eliminate the twelve evil spirits."

Let's continue on our journey.

The three tidied up briefly and left the area.

As Li Fu walked, he repeatedly instructed, "You must be careful from now on, especially with your diet; you must be extremely cautious."

Now that the Snake has made its move, it will not give up until it has poisoned us.

And Yin Hu, those two…”

Sure enough, after leaving the teahouse, the three of them were followed as if by a series of ghostly shadows, and there was never a moment of peace.

The Tiger's sneak attacks always strike unexpectedly.

Sometimes, as they were traveling on a wide official road, they would suddenly hear a deafening tiger's roar, and almost simultaneously, a sharp whistling sound would pierce the air, and a black arrow would be piercing their back.

Sometimes they would hide in roadside tea stalls to rest, thinking that the thatched walls would provide some shelter and allow them to catch their breath.

Unexpectedly, an arrow pierced through the cracks in the thatched hut and shot towards Li Fu.

On two separate occasions, Li Fu saw Yin Hu's figure appear on the eaves of a rooftop several dozen feet away. After shooting his arrows, Yin Hu stood with his bow in hand, his gaze as cold as if he were looking at a dead object.

Unfortunately, although Li Fu was skilled in martial arts, his lightness skill was inferior to his opponent's. Every time he tried to chase after him, Yin Hu would simply sway and disappear like a ghost. In a few leaps, he would be dozens of feet away, turning into a small black dot, leaving Li Fu with no choice but to stop.

Even more difficult to defend against than a cold arrow is the ubiquitous deadly poison.

Every tea stall and roadside inn they passed by had all their food and water poisoned.

After running out of the dry rations and water they had planned to replenish along the way, they finally finished them.

They found a seemingly clean little shop, ordered a few dishes, and Li Fu, Song Zhaoxue, and the other two watched the shopkeeper cook, from picking vegetables, washing vegetables, stir-frying vegetables, to serving vegetables, never leaving his side.

When it was served, I tried a small bite at first, and after waiting for a while to make sure it was okay, I dared to pick up my chopsticks.

Unexpectedly, shortly after the food entered his mouth, and just as he was finishing it, his internal energy began to fluctuate, indicating that he was poisoned again!

It seems that the snake had been secretly watching them all along, not poisoning their food, but instead poisoning their bowls and plates.

They became even more cautious after that. Remember this name: Cola Novels. Remember this domain name: . Good books won't lead you astray.

On one occasion, when they stayed at a small inn in the countryside, Li, Fu, and their companions still personally supervised the innkeeper's cooking, staying by their side from washing the vegetables to putting them in the pot.

After the food was served, he carefully inspected the bowls, chopsticks, cups, and plates.

After sitting down for a short while, I felt a slight numbness in my palm and discovered that there was a layer of colorless and odorless poison on the table. It would cause immediate skin irritation upon contact!

This was only because he was immune to all poisons; he only experienced a slight numbness.

"That wretched snake!"

After being poisoned repeatedly, Song Zhaoxue was furious.

After they ran out of their provisions, they planned to buy more along the way as usual, but they repeatedly discovered that the newly purchased bread, meat jerky and other food items contained deadly poison.

This day, it happened again.

We came out of a village.

"Thank you, ma'am."

I spent some money to buy some steamed buns from a family in the village. The village woman took the money, turned around and went into the house to take out the steamed buns.

In just a short time.

Li went out of the village and broke the steamed buns he had just bought into pieces to feed to the stray dogs by the roadside. The dogs only ate two bites before collapsing, convulsing, foaming at the mouth, and dying.

He sneered and threw away the remaining dry rations.

"It's always like this... Everything we buy, every single item, is poisoned."

This snake is following us closely...it seems it wants to starve us to death.

Two days have passed since the snake appeared and poisoned the food. The three of them have barely eaten a grain of rice. However, they have a plan: they have been digging up wild vegetables and hunting wild game along the way.

Although it doesn't taste good, it can still fill you up.

"This can't go on. The snake seems to be getting desperate. Since this morning, it has not only started poisoning the mountain springs and streams along the way, but it has also sprinkled poison powder and laid poison gas ahead of us."

Having not rested well and worrying about poisoning, Song Zhaoxue's originally bright face now showed signs of fatigue, and there was a bitter look on her face.

"And the food we've had these past two days...none of us know how to cook, and there's no salt either."

I never imagined that one day I would find staying in a roadside inn to be a pleasure. Now... now I crave even a bowl of white rice.

I'd be incredibly grateful to have even a plate of decent salted beef.

"This can't go on any longer..."

Wei Ying was in even worse shape. Li Fu and Song Zhaoxue were immune to all poisons, but she was poisoned one after another. Even though the two of them used their internal energy to remove the poison, it still damaged her vital energy. She was the weakest of the three, and she bit her lip tightly.

Although Li Fu and Song Zhaoxue are immune to all poisons, they still rely on their internal energy to neutralize the toxins; they cannot simply ignore the deadly poison.

Each time one is poisoned, one must expend internal energy to neutralize the poison.

If someone suddenly appears halfway through neutralizing the poison, it will be even more troublesome.

Moreover, they dare not guarantee that their internal energy can neutralize all the deadly poisons in the world, and that there is no exception.

That snake was indeed infamous; even the Five Poisons Sect leader, known for his poisons, was poisoned to death by him. Better safe than sorry.

These past few days have been filled with a series of misfortunes.

Even though Li Fu had a solid foundation in the Nine Yang Divine Skill and was not in any major problems, he couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed and angry.

"After our first failure, the Snake realized that we two were immune to all poisons."

In the past two days, at least seven or eight kinds of strange poisons have been detected, some causing sudden death without any warning signs, some causing paralysis, and some causing madness...

And so on and so forth, there are too many to list.

He tried various methods to administer rare and potent poisons to us, testing each one to see which would be able to poison us.

Once he can actually figure it out—”

He paused, looking around at the silent mountains and forests, as if he could feel countless eyes watching from the shadows.

"Moreover, the only ones who made moves on this journey were the Tiger and the Snake, but I always felt that there were more than just two people secretly watching."

Last time they came to kill me, three died. This time, there will definitely be at least three more.

"They made it impossible for us to sleep or eat in peace along the way, but they weren't in a hurry to make a move; they were waiting."

They will gradually wear down our physical strength and mental energy, until we are completely exhausted and we are like fish on a chopping board, ready to be slaughtered at will, before jumping out again.

In our despair and helplessness, they tortured and killed us as revenge, so that all five of the most notorious villains would perish at our hands, and the entire martial world would doubt their fearsome reputation.

They haven't had a proper rest for nearly three days, and haven't eaten properly for the past two days.

Li Fu frowned and said.

"This can't go on; we might get infected sooner or later."

"I've been infected..."

……

The three of them walked for another half a day.

As the sun began to set, a two-story teahouse appeared beside the road ahead.

Although this teahouse was also simple, with its white walls and black tiles showing signs of wear and tear, it was much more orderly than those thatched huts and roadside inns. It had walls, doors, and windows, making it look like a proper place to rest.

Li Fu stopped and looked around, then pondered, "Let's go in and rest for a bit."

With walls providing cover, it can at least protect against surprise attacks from arrows.

We... also need a place to think of a solution.

Dealing with assassins in the shadows.

These assassins aren't very skilled, but they're as annoying as the mosquitoes and ants in this forest.

There weren't many customers in the teahouse; a few tables were occupied by people eating, drinking, and chatting.

Upon seeing Li Fu and his two companions enter, the innkeeper hurriedly greeted them. Seeing that they all looked travel-worn, he asked, "Gentlemen, what would you like to eat...?"

A pot of clear tea.

Li Fu took out some loose silver coins and placed them on the counter.

He deliberately did not order any food.

"A cup of tea, please, sir."

Although the shopkeeper found it strange, seeing that there was a lot of money, he didn't ask any further questions and quickly brewed a pot of hot tea and brought it over.

But none of the three touched it—who knew if the spout or the rim of the cup was poisoned?

Does anyone know if tea leaves have been soaked in highly toxic substances?

They even put the teapot far away.

Inside the teahouse.

At the next table, a burly man was devouring a braised pork hock, its surface glistening with oil and a perfect balance of lean and fat.

At another table, a group of merchants were eating meat and drinking wine with gusto, their table laden with tender chicken and fresh fish, chatting and laughing heartily.

Another table was occupied by an elderly couple. Although they were only eating simple plain noodles, the hot soup and white noodles, topped with scallions and sesame oil, looked incredibly appetizing.

Looking at the delicious-looking dishes, Song Zhaoxue and Wei Ying's stomachs rumbled and their throats bobbed involuntarily.

Song Zhaoxue, who was usually lively, just stared blankly at the plate of braised pork, her eyes somewhat glazed over.

Wei Ying was also secretly swallowing her saliva.

Compared to all of this, what have I been eating these past two days?

Li Fu kept his eyes straight ahead and said, "Don't look, don't think."

They regarded those things as stones, weeds, and mud, things that were unfit for consumption.

Calm your mind and regulate your breathing to conserve your energy.

Wei Ying smiled wryly and joked, "If all of this is inedible, what have we been eating these past two days...?"

Before she could finish speaking, her body suddenly went limp, and she slumped onto the table, her forehead resting on the surface. Her breathing became rapid. "No, something's wrong... I think... I've been poisoned..."

"What?!"

Song Zhaoxue was startled and rushed to help her, but she also seemed to feel a strong dizziness. Her internal energy suddenly became stagnant, and she couldn't muster any strength at all!

"I'm poisoned too! This...this poison...what kind of poison is this? My 'Plain Maiden Mystic Art' can't neutralize it..."